Thursday, March 10, 2016

Words from the Wise One

Dear Hunter-Bunter,

I hope that this week has gone as well as last. I was thrilled to read of Willian's baptism. Help him to stay strong and move towards receiving the priesthood. I was just as glad to see that you are learning some of what I think are the key lessons of being on a mission: it's not us as missionaries, per se, we are, as the scriptures say, vessels, and as long as we are pure vessels than the message we bear to all we come in contact with will find those the Lord has prepared.

We've had a fun, fast-paced two weeks since I wrote you last. Last weekend we took a trip to SLC for a conference on "The Good Life" sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, complete with lavish meals in an equally lavish hotel downtown. (AnneMarie won me my new spiffy tie.)

We had (too) much fun acting like we were grown-ups and professionals but, as you can see below, as soon as we made our escape to our room we had to take lots of silly/serious selfies. It was a blast, made ten times more fun for being able to enjoy it together.

Before we headed back home Sunday morning we stopped to take in a live performance of Music and the Spoken Word. Always worth it, especially since they performed some different pieces from the Messiah in preparation for their Easter concert. Hallelujah!

I've also decided that one of main hobbies from now is going to be food. I love it, love making it, eating it, trying new kinds. At the conference we tried lots of delicious foods but one in particular--sausage stuffed mushrooms--caught our eyes in particular, so that Monday we made them and they were, to quote Genesis, GOOD... The new item on the menu is all things pizza, homemade from scratch of course.

Last week we made a supremely supreme pizza and this week it was BBQ chicken with fresh mozzarella, cilantro, and famous Dave's BBQ sauce. During the week, too, we tried a new ice cream place in town where they make the ice cream in front of you--a la subzero--but roll it up. Deliciously creamy, this is my new favorite treat spot in town:)

In other news, our intramural basketball team was ranked 5th out of all 150 teams at BYU, which kind of makes us like some kind of D-II team I think. We lost our first game in the tournament though, the first game we lost all season, so maybe that pushes us down to D-III.

We continue loving to rock climb and let me just say that AnneMarie would put 10 out of 10 guys climbing in that gym to shame with her skillz. Last night we had a fun date/movie night with two other couples who invited us to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I'd never seen that before, but much more entertaining was the uncontrollable laughter of one of the other guys who, let's just say, thought the ENTIRE thing was raucously funny. The best news of the last two weeks is that it's sunny, so I'm back on my blue bike, speeding to and from school in the sunshine.

Here's to knowing you're living the good life with lots of sunshine too,

Where #SuperHeroes Are Found

Where the Boys Go to Play!

BOY Translation

Successful Children

What Mom Believes

"We are created as much from the dust of eternity as we are from the dust of the earth. Every one of us has potential we can scarcely imagine." Joseph B. Wirthlin

“We write to taste life twice once in the moment and retrospect.” Anias Nin

Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

When we are filled with Love, we can make a profound difference. It's what we came to do. Ardeth G. Kapp

Men are what their mothers made them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860

In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers. Dieter F. Utchdorf

I want to be the kind of Mom that would remember to get the broken Wheezy off of the shelf, fix his squeaker, and put him back in the toy box, having hope that my boys will still want to play.

Boy Scouts

11 out of 12 original astronaut corps (89%) who have walked on the moon have been an Eagle Scout